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Toxic Workplaces and Boundaries in the Indian Professional Setting

Thursday, June 11, 2026
5 min read
Toxic Workplaces and Boundaries in the Indian Professional Setting

A founder from Bengaluru posted something online that really got people talking about how work actually is in India. She basically laid out some behaviors she feels are just toxic things that shouldn't be accepted at all in a professional setting.

She put it all up on LinkedIn. It was a reality check, for sure. A lot of people immediately connected with it. You see the comments shift fast. Some folks were like, "Finally, someone said this." Others were just throwing out their own stories. Long hours. Zero boundaries. Dealing with managers who just don't get it. That’s what most people were talking about.

She called them out pretty directly. Aloona, co-founder of Mindbun, wrote that there is this "toxic shit" that seems totally normalized in Indian workplaces. She listed five things she thinks are widely accepted but absolutely wrong.

  • Screaming at people.
  • Abusing them.
  • Belittling them right in front of everyone during standups.
  • And don’t even get me started on sales meetings OMG.
  • Then there was the whole expectation that you have to bend your schedule around some leader who decides to wake up at two and call everyone at midnight. It felt like a total power grab.

She talked about an entire company needing to optimize their schedules just to fit around one person. Someone waking up late, calling people late. It made her ask, "Like w**?" it was frustration spilling out there.

And then the availability thing. The expectation that you have to be reachable in a personal emergency. Getting office calls when you’re sick. When you’ve been admitted to the hospital or just grieving something awful. She felt that reflected a kind of ownership like, "You are my slave, I own all your time."

She also brought up those regular standups on weekends. Not one-off emergencies, but routine weekly check-ins when the job description clearly said five days working. That’s just pushing boundaries, isn't it?

The ending was about bosses dragging their feet. Delaying important stuff until the very last minute. Bosses chilling, taking smoke breaks all day, and then suddenly realizing at Friday five o'clock that everything is now "Urgent." It’s exhausting.

She wrapped it up by just saying, "None of this is okay. None of this should be okay." And then she turned it toward the employees directly. If you hear people tell you to just develop a thicker skin? Remember they are the problem, not you!

People started chiming in fast.

A therapist weighed in. She said that when you look at these environments long enough, they don't just affect work performance. They reshape how people feel about themselves, their sense of worth, even how their nervous system functions. The real issue is that this toxic behavior becomes so normal, people start doubting their own reactions instead of blaming the environment. Constant humiliation? Unpredictability? That’s chronic stress. Not professionalism.

Another expert, someone in marketing and brand comms, aGreed instantly. They pointed out that workplaces confuse pressure with actual performance. Availability isn't commitment. Professionalism shouldn't demand constant accessibility or sacrificing your personal life. Respect. That should be the baseline. It’s not some nice extra perk at work; it has to be the minimum standard.

Then there was a lifestyle coach who painted a rather sad picture of many Indian organizations. Abuse just becomes the norm, and pulling people down seems acceptable. They said they’ve seen leaders who refuse even a culture shift. There’s a lot of realization happening now about how serious this is. It’s a long road to fix it.

One founder added something heavier. What really bothers her isn't just that these things happen... it’s that we built entire cultures around making them virtues. Sacrificing your boundaries? That’s commitment. Running yourself into the ground? That’s hustle. Tolerating what you shouldn't? That’s leadership. A place demanding your dignity just to belong that was never worth staying in.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

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